Summer Girls is a fun read with a lot of conflict resolution! While it's an enjoyable read with some good humor, it's not a completely light summer romance. Instead it's structured a little differently than most YA romances in that the third act break-up occurs early on. Birdie and Cass then have a lot of self-discovery to do in the meantime. Their personal growth and relationships were the star of the show for me! Birdie especially has a good coming of age arc. I wouldn't have minded spending more time on the romance itself once they got together, but I loved the exploration of their friendships and family dynamics.

Dugan tackles some mature topics (like affordable housing, class differences, coming out, and social media use) in a way that is very approachable for younger teens. I can see this as a great choice for most students 7th grade and up who are diving into romance.

Overall, this is an enjoyable and character-driven read!

Jennifer Dugan can always be relied on to write a sweet usually always summery contemporary. I would recommend her books to anybody looking for a good YA contemporary to read in a day or two. And usually I always read them in a few days flat too and have a good time with them. And Im always happy to receive early copies of them, thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this one!

Birdie and Cass were cute and I enjoyed their relationship most of the time. They definitely had their sweet moments that made you want to root for them to work out in the end. I did feel like they were kind of constantly arguing about the same thing over and over again most times though. Going into their relationship they knew there were some big class differences. Cass having to work for everything she has, busting her ass to make the money she has, to get the scholarship she needed to go to college, watching all her friends and their families struggle the same as hers does. While Birdie is a little bit your typical rich girl on the outside. She has had everything handed to her, she comes from wealth and money already and then she and her mom are big social media influencers and they put mostly their entire life on camera on the internet and she doesn't think much about the cost of her lifestyle at all. They were definitely bound to have some disagreements and fights over that and then just the general "new relationship struggles" issues but I just don't know how productive they were to the plot after about the 3rd time of the same fight. The resolution that happened at the end feels like it could've happened way sooner too. I think the arguing mostly happened because the girls lacked trust in each other because they'd only really been around the other for a month or so. But they were for the most part cute together and I liked them separately too.

Im not totally sure how to feel about Birdie's dad George though? It sounded to me like "Look at all the horrible things he does to the town and the housing market, but he's also one of the good ones because he's not as bad as others who do it" Isn't he still kind of horrible if he never plans to stop doing it? It was confusing to me but not like a dealbreaker. I would have loved to meet some of Cass's other friends and neighbors/community in general though because she definitely seemed to care about what happened to them a great deal and I kind of did too honestly. Summer towns have their charm about them to tourists but its a different kind of magic to those who live there year round. To them its home, and I just wanted to see more of it in general. I think I had a good time with this overall, Its great for the summer upcoming like i've said that all of Jennifer Dugan's books are. Maybe not my absolute favorite story, but out of all her cover's this one might be my favorite. Please never change the cover artist lol.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I am not sure why but this book did not work for me. However, as I always say when I don't like a book, just because I did not like the book, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. It also doesn't necessarily mean that I may not like another book by the same author. Or even that I may not like the book if I try it again in the future...

thank you netgalley for granting me this arc in exchange for an honest review!

summer girls by jennifer dugan totally hit me in the feels. it’s one of those books that sneaks up on you—like, you think it's just gonna be a cute summer romance, but then suddenly you're thinking about your own friendships and how messy and complicated growing up can be. the story follows two girls, birdie and cass, who were childhood friends but didn't really became close as one would hope.

what i really loved was how real everything felt. like, the characters don’t have it all together, and they say the wrong things, and make dumb choices—just like actual people. there’s this rawness in the way dugan writes about love and queerness and forgiveness that just makes you wanna hug the book and scream "same"???!!?

additionally, they’re both figuring stuff out and making mistakes along the way, and it reminded me of how hard it is to grow and change while also holding onto the people you care about. their friendship-turned-maybe-something-more is messy but honest, and i think a lot of people will see bits of themselves in both of them.

also, the summer setting made everything feel even more intense—like the kind of summer where everything shifts and nothing stays the same. the beach town vibes? perfect. i could literally feel the sand in my shoes and the weight of unresolved feelings in the air. it made me wish i had my own summer story (minus the drama maybe).

if you're into stories that are about love, identity, and trying to fix what’s been broken, this book’s for you. it’s not just a romance, it’s about healing and finding your voice again. summer girls made me think about how sometimes the people we push away are the ones we need the most—and that maybe, just maybe, it’s worth the risk to let them back in.

This book just wasn’t for me. It was well written, I just was left wanting more from the story and characters.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!!

I absolutely loved this!! Cass and Birdie are adorable together. I was so invested in the growth Birdie’s character experienced and I was beyond pleased when she finally stood up to her horrible mother!!

I can’t wait to read more from this author!!

I was nervous when first jumping into the book about the “modernness” of this book in regard to the influencer aspect of Birdie. I typically dislike books that have really specific things of modern society because it takes me out of the book and I often find it cringey. However I didn’t find this to be a problem for me with this book. I think this is because the play out of an “influencer in action” was not overdone and it was more the other things of being an influencer that was highlighted for Birdie.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the development of Birdie and Cass’s relationship, by far my favorite aspect of this book was Birdies character development. Watching her figure out what was important to her and not just what her mom wants her to do and fighting for those things was so encouraging. I found myself rooting for Birdie the entire time and was honestly proud of her at the end.

Another relationship I really enjoyed was Birdie’s friendship with Ada (this is my official request for a book about Ada). There were so many aspects and struggles in that friendship that I found relatable and I loved to seeing how they grew.

While the title made me think of that LFO song every time, this book is somehow better than that banger! Somehow this book is a redemption arc and enemies to lovers story at the same time. I cried and swooned many times while reading this. I never wanted to put it down! The summer sapphic vibes are amazing and I love the bisexual representation as well as showing how often coming out of the closet really has to happen for people.
Just amazing!

Very sweet YA book. It was a quick summery read. Nothing ground breaking but very atmospheric. I am not sure if this author writes adult novels, but if so I would be interested to read! If not, I can't see myself reaching for another Jennifer Dugan novel over all the other options out there right now.

Such a cutie story for the summer! I have loved Dugan’s YA romances because while they are so sweet and swoony, they always tackle bigger themes and foster important conversations.

I really appreciated how in Summer Girls, Dugan spends a significant amount of time discussing how toxic social media has become and how it can negatively impact our mental and emotional health and how that can creep into our relationships as well. I hope that readers will not only see this book as a fun escape and sweet romance, but will cling to the reminder to put down their phones, disconnect, stop living for ‘likes’ and be their authentic selves.

Birdie and Cass were from different worlds and I appreciated how both girls went on a journey of discovery and broadened their outlooks and how they could use their voice and privilege to make positive impacts in their communities. I was very much not on Team Birdie in the beginning as she was very much a spoiled, entitled rich girl, but as the story unfolded, my heart ached for how she was used by everyone around her, including her mom (UGH!!), to increase their own followings, brand deals, or ‘likability.’ I was so proud of Birdie by the end of the story for using her platform for social and economic justice.

DNFed at 62%. I don’t really know what to say about this book. The premise sounded really good and the cover was so cute! Unfortunately, it ended up just disappointing me.

Birdie is a rich influencer with a mom who vlogs constantly and a dad in real estate. Cass, on the other hand, comes from a working-class family living in a coastal town that is slowly becoming more expensive, due in part to Birdie’s dad’s influence.

First off, I really didn’t feel any chemistry between the main characters. Each of them just seemed one-dimensional and their relationship evolution just felt very insta-lovey. It seemed to take them all of 20 pages to go from disliking each other to kissing to dating. I kept getting further into the book thinking “Okay, so when does the attraction start building?” and a second later they got together.

Speaking of one-dimensional, Birdie’s mom was the pinnacle of that. It was hard to take her seriously at all because the only thing she cared about was vlogging, keeping views up, and making money. At least Birdie’s dad seemed more fleshed out, so that’s something.

I also didn’t really care for the CONSTANT talks and thoughts of class differences between Birdie and Cass. I understand it’s an important element of their dynamic, and I understand it needing to be brought up occasionally, but it was so constant that it just became annoying and pointless because the same thoughts would be repeated over and over again and it just became white noise. Like I can totally understand why Cass was frustrated with Birdie, but Cass also just became obnoxious and seemed to play the victim no matter the circumstance. For example, making it some big deal that she’s a scholarship kid when she goes to MIT in the fall. First of all, as a college student myself, literally no one gives a crap if you’re a scholarship kid. No one. In fact, people will probably envy you for not having to pay thousands for school. It was also strange that she’s going to MIT to study business, like, girl, go to a state school. It’s just such a dumb cliche that every main character HAS to go to some prestigious college.

Yeah, overall, not the book for me. I think I’m getting too old for these books. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cute beach town romance with an opposites attract Sapphic couple.

Rich influencer girl Birdie get sent to the summer house as "punishment" and oh, no, she has to get a job and have someone watch out for her in order to earn her trust fund. Local lifeguard Cass spends her time earning money and helping out her dad's Coalition that's determined to help people not lose their homes to people like Birdie's dad.

Through the majority, I was definitely more empathetic with Cass's situation than with Birdie's. The last 20% changed it for me, though. Cass regressed multiple times and Birdie continued to grow. It felt like the third act had more to do with Cass's internal struggles than it did with Birdie doing anything specifically wrong, but Birdie was expected to apologize and do better. And then there's Birdie's dad. He's made out to be like some kind of "rich nice guy" but he gives off slimy businessman vibes, especially towards the end. He's imperfect, for sure, but it's written like that's just who he is and he's not expected to change, and I just did not vibe with that.

On the positive side, I loved Cass's friends. I really enjoyed Cass and Birdie in the first half of the book. The lifeguard incident was so well done in the way that it started to shake Birdie's world view. And that continued in the work she started doing with the Coalition. I definitely liked Birdie's growth towards the end. I feel like Jennifer Dugan has yet to put out a bad book and definitely recommend for fans of YA Sapphic romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

I'm not typically a person who likes reading about influencer types but Birdie had depth. The previous friendship with Cass provided a solid of foundation of closeness so it didn't feel like an insta-love. This was a fun summer read. Jennifer Dugan always provides good commentary on society's outlook on bi people. This book touched on class and while I think it could have gone deeper, I think for a YA audience it was a pretty good introduction to these bigger issues.

Even though Cass was very stuck in her ways, I enjoyed seeing her grow and learn to accept Birdie despite their economic situations. Understandably Cass was right to be skeptical, but after awhile of going over the same old argument, it became a little annoying. But her passion and work that she and her father did at the coalition to advocate for more affordable housing was really admirable. I like how both her parents and lifeguard friends grounded her and were able to support her in the way that she needed them to. Especially Bentley, who always seemed to know what to do or say when Cass needed it. They had an adorable love/hate, brother/sister friendship. Birdie on the other hand, had a lot more to overcome, therefore I felt more connected to her because of her more genuine growth. Birdie never had any solid role models in her life, so it made sense that she needed to realize a few life lessons and come to terms with her reality. Even though it took a while for her to get there, I really enjoyed seeing her work a job for the first time, learn about the work her father and Cass’s father do, understand Cass’s point of view (regarding economic disparity and unfair housing laws), and actually doing something to bring about change.

In terms of the chemistry and relationship between Cass and Birdie, I wish they had spent less time hating each other and more time accepting each other. The quick turn of events from hate to all of the sudden dating felt very rushed, especially for someone like Birdie who isn’t completely comfortable with her sexuality. The fact that they kept circling back to the same old argument regarding their two different worlds was frustrating. It seemed like Birdie was making more of an effort to get past it than Cass, who constantly used the same jabs to push Birdie away. Once they did get together, I wanted to see more romancing and cute dates, rather than working at the coalition or talking during their work shifts. When Birdie revealed that she used to have a crush on Cass as a kid, we weren't given much detail as to how that came about. Which again, made their quick enemies to lovers moment seem very sudden and not accurately built up. I did however really enjoy the rescue scene and Birdie’s very public declaration of love speech.

As for side characters, I honestly didn’t feel much for any of them mainly because they fell extremely flat, or had horrible personalities, or we just didn’t get to know anything about them. For example, Mitchell was an obvious villain, but we don’t know much about him. Ada is supposed to be Birdie’s best friend, but she seemed only concerned about herself or having a good time and then all of the sudden at the end she does a complete 180 and has the nerve to stand up for Birdie. Again we don't really get much of either of their backstories and they both had unlikeable personalities so I could have done without either of them. There also was a lot more potential exploration with Bentley and his crush on six but we only get the basics and its only to serve a purpose of growth for Cass. We get a lot of information about Birdie’s father (who stays static throughout the entirety of the story) but hardly anything about her mother and how she became so obsessed with fame and being an influencer. It was also confusing how Birdie’s father and Cass’s father could be such good friends even though they are both working against each other and have very different beliefs.

Something that I wished would have had more focus on was Birdie and coming to terms with her sexuality. Why was this never talked about or explained in greater detail? Obviously this is a huge part of who she is and yet we don’t know why she never felt completely comfortable with people knowing she was bi and how affected she was by other people’s reactions, especially her “friends” and family. Even the ending and so called “closure” between Birdie and her parents felt very forced and inauthentic. I also had mixed feelings about the epilogue. It kind of wrapped things up too nicely and we hardly found out much about Cass’s short college experience or current feelings. They both definitely felt very cute and happy with each other, which is what I wish we had more of in the actual story, rather than much of the toxicity that was constantly popping up.

So overall, I loved the summer setting and the insight into the two opposing worlds of Cass and Birdie and their journey towards accepting those parts of each other, but I didn't like the repetitive arguments, lack of side character depth or development, lack of attention to Birdie’s sexuality, and how rushed Birdie and Cass’s romantic relationship started.

Summer Girls is my first introduction to Jennifer Dugan, and it was a wonderful read!

The story follows Cass, a hard-working, community-engaged young woman who spends her time working with her family's community coalition. She comes from a working-class family. Her number one rule during the summer is to avoid summer girls, who are rich, privileged girls and are the epitome of everything Cass hates. Then she is reintroduced to Birdie, who is spending the summer in the small town as punishment for crashing her boyfriend's car. Birdie is the ultimate "summer girl," according to Cass.

Cass and Birdie's summer romance is filled with tension and sweetness. The differences in their backgrounds and the divides between the societal classes are really highlighted in this story, and Dugan does a wonderful job of showing how love and trust can bridge those gaps. The character growth and the way that Cass and Birdie learn to understand and support each other is really sweet to read.

Overall, this was a nice, easy read. Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group, for this ARC.

Summer Girls brings all the summertime vibes. The story follows Cass and Birdie, two girls who come from different lifestyles and places and are put together for the summer after Birdie ends up crashing her boyfriends car outside an event being thrown by her dad while live-streaming content for her mother. Spending the summer with her dad away from cameras in her face and social media may just be what Birdie needs to find herself and what is really important in life if her and Cass can get along that is. I thought this book was a good summer story that also focuses on deeper topics such as family vlogging and housing coalitions. It has some found family aspects while also being a queer story with two bisexual female main characters and a bisexual male side character. I would have loved just a little bit more at the end but overall I enjoyed this fast paced story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC!

Another cute YA sapphic romance from Jennifer Dugan.

Dugan really understands the plight of the queer teenage girl, and this comes across in Summer Girls. Hard-working Cass and social influencer Birdie come from different lives but are forced to spend a summer working together on a popular vacation beach. Enemies quickly turns into infatuation as the girls develop crushes and re-kindle a friendship from their early childhood years.

While the falling in love happens quickly, just like most of Dugan's book, the relationship is put to the test and a will they/won't they plays out as both characters battle with who they are as people and what they want from their partner.

Highly recommend for anyone looking to get into the summer vacation vibes!

another one bites the dust 💔 when i read the synopsis of the book, i thought that Birdie would be acting out from a place of anger due to her absent parents. a rebellious teenager archetype of sorts. i didn’t expect Birdie to also be an influencer like her mom. i don’t know, it’s definitely a me thing, but i simply do not want to read about nepo baby influencer in the year 2025!!! sue me!!!

These two couldn’t be any different if you tried. These two get a second chance to reconnect and ultimately fall in love. The book is full of angst, hope, and found family, which is my absolute favorite trope. I genuinely loved it. It’s fast-paced, heart-warming, and the queer representation is done so well. Definitely recommend! Perfect book for a YA teenager.

Cass doesn’t date summer girls, especially not the child influencer daughter of her dad’s boss, who suddenly stopped hanging out with her when they were kids, crashed her ex-boyfriend’s car, and got exiled to Cass’ vacation town. Now, Cass has to babysit spoiled(?) Birdie, which doesn’t help with the animosity. Cass finds it funny when Birdie is forced to work as a parking lot attendant, but she’s not laughing when Birdie offers to go against her father to help Cass’ father. As the weather heats up, so does their relationship, and Cass might need to reconsider her summer girls rule. Is Birdie different from all the obnoxious, flighty rich girls around her?
Hate to love is my ultimate favorite trope of all time. Cass and Birdie’s banter fed my soul. It’s dual-POV too, so we got to see both sides of the story— literally. Though Birdie hides Cass at first, their grand reveal was so satisfyingly adorable. Birdie’s father is such an interesting, complicated character, and his relationship with Cass’ father reminds us that not everything is black and white.
Dugan also brings up an interesting take on child influencers forced into their fame. Birdie is sent on a social media ban to prevent more scandals for her image-obsessed mother, but considering her mother plays a huge role in her issues to start with, we see Birdie heal during her social media detox. The way she turns her upbringing into a job where she does good in the world is so admirable. I loved Birdie by the end. Summer Girls is the ultimate summer romance.